>   Speaking of fun projects and Xilinx chips...I'd *love* to have an FPGA
> implementation of a pdp8 (probably an 8/e) with an IDE interface. :-)

there at least _used_ to exist PDP8-on-a-chips out there. poking around in
a (massively disorganized) accumulation of info i've gathered yielded a
part number: IM6100. cursory scanning of a digi-key catalog doesnt turn
one up, though- it might not be in production anymore.. 

anyhow, hope this helps a bit
isildur